Guilty Little Secret
by kathryn ashworth
Summary: What if Frasier hadn't gone to Lillith's room in Room Service
1. Chapter 1

Guilty Little Secret

A/N: What if Frasier hadn't walked in on Niles and Lillith in Room Service? The story picks up just after the waiter has gone to get Lillith's ketchup

Lillith and Niles sat in silence, both trying to understand what had driven them to end up in bed together, the tequila was, natrually, a contributing factor, but both knew that it was not the only reason, it merely lowered thier inhibitions and let them be receptive to the idea of spending the night together. After all they were both unattached and had recently been hurt bu their respective spouses. The only thing that was clear to both of them was that it must never be repeated, their existence as a couple would total that one night. Unfortunatley they couldn't agree as to whether to tell Frasier. Lillith thought not, she knew just what the revalation of what happened between her and Niles would crush him, they both betrayed his trust, despite the fact that she no longer had feelings towards him, she felt she couldn't be that cruel. Niles on the other hand knew he had to say something, his ethics would not allow him to lie to his brother about an event of this magnitude, and in any case if he was questioned about the events of the night the tendency for his nose to bleed would give him away, no matter how convincing his words were.

They decided to reconvene at Frasier's apartment that evening to break the news to him, as Niles turning up in the same suit as he had the night before would immediatley set the alarm bells ringing in Frasier's mind, to decriminate themselves further they would arrive separatley and not mention anything of the previous evening until Frasier said something, they had even devised a script of sorts. Well these things work in theory, but the reality can be very different as they were to discover that evening.

As agreed they both arrived within 10 minutes of each other but that is where the plan fell apart, when Frasier asked Niles if Lillith had arrived at her hotel he suddenly looked very guilty and started touching his nose incase it had started bleeding. Nartually Frasier was concerned for his brother, but this soon turned to anger when Niles suddenly blurted out that he had spent the night together.

The shock was immediatley evident on his face, suddenly there were millions of thoughts racing through his mind, predominatley that this was a cruel joke they were playing, nevermind the fact there seemed to be no obvious motive for such a thing, unless Lillith was upset that he had rejected her the evening before. He went into the kitchen on the premise he was going to make coffee, fortunatley this gave Lillitha chance to have a little talk with Niles.

"What was that, why did you have to blurt it out?" Lillith said with murderous intention in both her voice and her eyes.

"I couldn't help it, I can't cope with lying to him."  
On emerging from the kitchen they discovered that he had gone along with his car keys.

Please R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Guilty Little Secret

Usual disclaimer applies, and once again I have nothing of value, unless you value odd socks, old copies of Top Gear Magazine and many, many pictures of Jenson Button.

Frasier stormed out of the apartment, motivated by anger and the deep sense of betrayal he felt. He had to get away from them, after driving for hours he eventually pulled up in a small diner somewhere in the middle of Idaho, on checking his cellphone he discovered that there were 5 missed calls from his apartment and 4 more from Niles, as if he could bring himself to talk to him. As he went into the diner the phone rang again, he correctly surmised it was Niles, they weren't going to leave him alone so he turned it off. The state he was in, the last thing he needed to do was talk to anyone with the surnames Crane or Sternin, and hopefully Doyle or Moon either. He ordered a coffee from the woman behind the counter who seemed flummoxed by both the coffee machine and the cash register, either she's new, or working this shift she doesn't get many customers, he thought to himself whilst watching the comically inept waitress.

When the various rumblings of the coffee machine ceased and he eventually was served with his drink, a group of young men entered and gave him a strange look, before realising that men in Armani suits aren't generally a common sight in diners in farming country. After this minor distraction his attention was piqued by the radio,

"This is Dr Jonathan Humphrey on KMID 920 AM, if you have a problem ring in the number is..." He was already on his way over to the payphone when the number was being read out, and he missed it as a couple of the young men were having a disagreement, coinicdentally someone had stuck a promotional sticker from the station on the handset so he dialled it quickly.

The phone was answered quickly by Dr Humphry's producer Dawn, "Dr Jonathan Humphry's show, what is your problem"

"My brother slept with my ex-wife, I stormed out of the house and have no idea how to talk to them about it"

"You should be able to speak to Dr Humphrey soon, may I take your name?"  
"Yes, it's Frasier Crane" he did think about giving an pseudonym but decided against it when he couldn't decide on a new name for himself.

"What seems to be the problem Frasier?"

Exlpaining what had happened, Frasier suddenly felt empathy for those who rang into his show, despite being a radio personality himself he was embarrased revealing the details of Niles and Lilith's encounter, as it was deeply humiliating. Eventually he found himself recalling the details, and with it, the catharsis of talking about it he now realised that storming out of the apartment and driving halfway across Idaho was the worst possible thing he could have done as all he did was let it fester. He was barley listening to the other end of the conversation, thankfully he seemed not to have missed much, all Dr Humphrey suggested that it might be best to talk to Niles and Lilith separatley, which was the conclusion he came to himself.

After hanging up the phone he drained his coffee and switched his cell phone back on, there were more missed calls than before, he was hardly surprised but this time he rang back, told Niles where he was and that he was on about to set off back and would like to talk to both him and Lilith to find out why they had spent the night together.


End file.
